College Begins
by magentabear
Summary: Grace, Adam and Joan have all gone to separate colleges. This is just a brief look at each of them in their new dorms.
1. Grace's Chapter

**College Begins**

Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with _Joan of Arcadia_

Author's note: I just filled out my housing application for freshman year of college, and was wondering what my roommate (or roommates) would be like. This is the result.

**Grace's Chapter**

"Dad, don't worry… Dad, I'll call you back… _Dad,_ I need to go… Because I can't talk on the phone and find my room at the same time… I just can't." Grace hung up.

Grace set her luggage down on a bench. She didn't know where the hell she was. The campus was huge. Grace was pretty sure the website had been lying when it said UCLA was the smallest campus in the UC system. There's no way one state—even one as big as California—can have eight campuses bigger than this. Although, the overabundance of college campuses does explain something about California.

Grace dug her registration letter out of her pocket. Sproul Hall, fourth floor, room 19, rooming with Jessica Kline and Tamara Woo. Grace hoped Jessica and Tamara (and they better be less peppy than their names) were small. She honestly didn't understand how three people would fit in one dorm room.

With a groan, Grace picked up her crap and continued her search for Sproul Hall. Thirty-two minutes later, she found it. Seventeen minutes and two registration checks later, she was on an elevator. Finally, she was in front of room 19. She paused, her hand on the doorknob.

"Hey, you!" a tall redhead yelled as she came running down the hall. Grace wondered she had come from. "Are you Grace Polk?"

"Yeah, and you are?"

"I'm Jessica Kline. Sorry about the yelling and the 'hey, you' and the running and all. Had to catch you before you opened the door, though." Jessica had caught up and was now panting slightly as she smiled at Grace.

"What? It's my—our, I guess—room." Grace didn't take her hand of the door.

"Yeah, I know, but Tammy wanted a second to say good-bye to her sister and boyfriend without roommates in the way. I promised I'd stand watch for you."

"Well, aren't you friendly." Grace didn't mean for that to come out _quite_ as mean and sarcastic as it did. Luckily, Jessica didn't seem to notice. Grace got the impression that, yelling and running aside, it took a lot to faze Jessica. This boded well.

Grace was about to ask where Jessica had come barreling from (the dark halls and the steady stream of students and parents made it hard to see for herself) when the door opened. A short Asian girl with perfect features and a tall boy who looked like the typical linebacker walked out. Jessica nodded slightly at them. Grace glared, picked up her luggage and walked into her new home.

The room was almost as dark as the hallway. Each side wall was flanked by bunk beds, but a desk and dresser was nesteled under the left bunk instead of a lower mattress. Two desks lined the back wall. At one of them was an Asian girl with slightly-less-than-perfect features. She was crying a little. Grace sighed. Jessica walked in and looked back and forth between her roommates.

"Um, Tammy, this is Grace Polk. Grace, this is Tamara Woo."

"Hi, Grace. Where are you from?" Tammy asked, completely ignoring her own tears. She shifted so that she was sitting on the desk chair backwards, facing the other girls.

"Maryland. Have you guys picked your beds yet?"

"That's mine," Jessica said as she pointed the one lower bunk. "Not a fan of heights."

"I don't care where I sleep," Tammy said, still ignoring the tears. There was a pause and a sniffle. "You know what? That's a lie. The bed above the desk and dresser freaks me out. Doesn't look sturdy enough. Can you take it?"

Grace nodded. She threw her stuff in the corner and climbed up.

"Dude," Grace said with a smile, "this is awesome. I've never been on a bunk bed."

"People in Maryland say 'dude?'" Jessica asked from the nest she had made out of blankets on her bed.

"I say it."

"Only the guys say it in Aliso Viejo," Tammy said, now finally tear-free.

"Where?" Grace asked.

"My hometown. It's in Orange County. Eighty miles that way." Grace was lying on her back, looking at the ceiling, and couldn't see what direction Tammy was pointing. She was okay with that.

"Wow, I didn't know anyone actually said 'dude,'" Jessica said. "Not real big in Norco."

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure _Norco_ is exactly the epitome of cool, Jessica," Tammy said good-naturedly.

"Hey, now, at least people have heard of my hometown," Jessica replied.

"I haven't," Grace said.

"It's somewhere around here," Tammy explained vaguely. "Really, the only thing you need to know about Norco is the cows. God, that whole freeway stinks."

"Yeah, but it's not like the whole town smells," Jessica said.

"A good portion of it does, though," Tammy shot back.

"Have you ever _been_ there?"

"Children, children," Grace interrupted, "it doesn't matter." There was a pause.

"So, Grace, do you have a boy waiting back home for you?" Jessica asked.

Grace truly wished she could say no to this. Then she wished she didn't wish she could say no to this. After all Luke had put up with, the least she could do is admit she had a boyfriend.

"Yeah." There was a pause while Jessica and Tammy waited for her to go on.

"And his name is…?" Tammy finally said.

"Luke." More waiting.

"How did you meet?" Jessica asked.

Grace didn't answer. Suddenly, the door flew open.

"Hi, I'm Kelly, your RA," a tiny brunette chirped happily. "For those of you who don't know, RA stands for Resident Advisor, so, you know, feel free to come by my room if you need advice or help or anything. My room's at the end of the hall. Nice to meet you." And with that she closed the door.

"See, I'm not sure it actually counts as _meeting_ her if we didn't introduce ourselves or say anything," Tammy commented.

"I think she did enough talking for the three of us," Jessica replied.

"Dude, if she barges in like that again I'll be moving to a new hall. Not that I wouldn't miss you guys, of course," Grace said as she climbed down from her bed. "I'm starving. Airport food sucks. Anyone want to get something to eat with me?" _Good Lord, Polk, did you just invite_ _strangers to join you? Are you trying to make friends? Maybe they'll say no._

Grace wasn't so lucky. Forty-one minutes later (turns out none of them knew their way around campus) Grace found herself at the Bruins Café with her two roommates. But you know what? It wasn't that bad.

xxx

xxx

Stay tuned. When I _finally_ get the next chapter right (it's finished, but I'm not satisfied yet) we see Adam meet his roommate. And I mean no offense to anyone who lives in Norco. That freeway does stink, but I have no idea if the actual city does.


	2. Joan's Chapter

Disclamer: I'm not associated with _Joan of Arcadia_ in any way.

Author's note: The plan was to put Adam's chapter here, and save Joan's for last, but his is sucking so bad that I don't think it can be saved. So his chapter is on hiatus. Hopefully, I'll get it up, but don't hold your breath.

And with that happy note, let's see Joan meet her roommate.

**Joan's Chapter**

Joan was arranging the photos on her desk when Cassidy Mitchell walked in.

"Hi, you must be Joan," she said shyly.

"Hello, and you're Cassidy?"

Cassidy nodded, and then took a moment to look around the room. It was fairly big, for a dorm room. Dawson State was looking like a pretty good choice.

"Sorry about the clutter," Joan said with a sweep of her hand, "I'm trying to get set up and it's not going well."

"So I see," Cassidy said with a smile.

"I hope you don't mind I took the bed on the left side?"

"Oh, no, they're identical," Cassidy assured Joan.

They unpacked their things for thirty minutes before Joan broke the silence.

"So, where are you from?"

"I'm from Benton."

Joan looked at her blankly.

"It's three hours north of here," Cassidy explained. "Tiny town with nothing to do. One night my cousin and I got so bored we seriously considered piercing each other's belly buttons with needles. Don't worry, though, common sense prevailed."

"You're lucky, I've still got the scar from when I got my belly button pierced," Joan laughed. "I kinda deserved it, though. That money should have gone to the homeless."

"You stole from the homeless?" Cassidy looked genuinely shocked.

"I didn't _steal_ anything. I just… I don't know why I'm telling you this. I made up for it, though, trust me," Joan said earnestly.

"Okay. So, stealing from the homeless aside, what kind of stuff did you do in high school?"

"How much time have you got?" Joan asked. "I think I tried every club, activity and class at least once. None really stuck. How about you?"

Cassidy looked up from where she was kneeling by her dresser. A pair of folded jeans in one hand and a crumpled black something in the other, she seemed at a loss for words.

"My mom and I were talking about this on the drive here," she said slowly. "Benton really is a small town. I've been so _sheltered_. I didn't do anything in high school. I mean, I never even had a date, let alone a boyfriend."

"Take my word for it; boyfriends aren't all they're cracked up to be. I begged and begged for one, then He gives me one, and what does the jerk do? He goes and cheats on me."

"Bastard," Cassidy said.

An awkward silence filled the room. Cassidy finished transfering her clothes into the dresser, hesitated, than sat on her bed so that she was facing Joan.

"Can I ask you something?" Joan nodded. "You say you begged for a boyfriend and then 'he' gave you one? Who, exactly, hands out these boyfriends? 'Cause, I'd like to meet him," Cassidy ended, trying to make light of her question.

"Oh… my dad didn't let me date for the longest time. Adam, my ex, had to go and ask for permission to ask me out," Joan lied as she mentally yelled at herself.

"Wow, he must have really liked you," Cassidy said, almost jealous.

"That's the worst of it," Joan said quietly. "He loved me. I mean, the kind of love where I thought we would be married as soon as we both turned eighteen, and celebrate our sixtieth aniversay surrounded by grandchildren. He loved me even as he cheated on me, I'm sure of that. Grace, a friend of ours, says he still loves me."

Cassidy didn't answer, but this time the silence wasn't awkward. Lost in memories, Joan looked at the framed picture of Adam and herself displayed prominately on her desk. Cassidy followed her line of sight.

"That's him, isn't it?" she asked.

Joan nodded.

"You still love him, don't you?"

"We're connected, whether I like it or not," Joan said flatly.

"I know there's a lot about this whole situation I don't know, but I gotta say, I'm jealous. I'd give almost anything to be that connected to someone. I really would," Cassidy said in the strongest voice she had used since Joan met her.

"You must be connected to someone. I mean, in the grand scheme of things we're all connected," Joan said, finally tearing her eyes away from the picture.

"Very deep, Joan."

"A little too deep, I think," Joan replied. "How did we get so heavy? We should be trading stupid stories and comparing our majors."

"Well, I'm undeclared, so there's not much to work with there," Cassidy laughed.

"Hey, I'm undeclared, too," Joan said. "I have no clue what I want to do."

"I know I want to do something English- or psycology-related, so at least I have a start. You, my friend, are screwed."

Joan laughed. Dawson State was looking good.


End file.
